Public schools in the United States

Because of violence, vandalism, and other undesirable elements, this public school has a glaring sign warning of the on-campus surveillance cameras at its parking lot entrance.

Public schools in the United States are government sponsored institutions intended to teach children up through 12th grade. They are generally split into lower-level "Grade School," "Middle School" and "High School." There are also some "Technical Schools" for training in specific skills.

30% of public school students fail to graduate from high school,[8] and more 40% of minorities fail to graduate;[9] the real drop-out rate may be 50%.[10]

Nearly 70% of students leave high school unqualified to attend four-year college, and many are unable to hold a steady job.[8]

A 2007 study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 77% of students between eighth and 12th grade had used illicit drugs.[11] Fatal overdoses are common but underreported.[12] Public schools are required to present drug "education" to kids.

More than 60% of public school teenagers (in one regional study) watch more than 3 hours of television a day, compared with a national average of 35%[13]

About half of the viable pregnancies among girls attending public school end in abortions and about half end in birth. Public schools "educate" kids about sex.[14]

"About 160,000 students miss school daily because they fear being bullied," and students viciously fight each other and post videos of it on Youtube.com.[15]

20% of students had been dangerously "binge drinking" in the previous 30 days, and 50% of seniors regularly drink illegally, according to a 2007 study of Ottawa County, Michigan.[16][17]

History

Religious origins

In 1647, MassachusettsPuritans enacted the second law, after Scotland in 1616,[19] establishing universal public schools in the English-speaking world to block the attempts by "ould deluder Satan to keepe men from the whole knowledge of the Scriptures".[20] Each settlement larger than 50 families was required to pay a schoolmaster to teach reading, writing and religious doctrine to the children in the community. Beginning in 1670, Massachusetts provided tax funding for school maintenance. This model was then copied throughout the colonies, and even throughout the world.

Curricula used

According to Noah Webster, "the books used were chiefly or whole Dilworth's Spelling Books, the Psalter, Testament and Bible".[21] Other sources such as the U.S. Office of Education note the following books used: The ABC, the Horn Book, the New England Primer, the Bible, Catechisms, and the Psalters.[22]

The New England Primer is of particular note given its widespread use over such a long period of time.[23] The Primer, also known as The Little Bible, was in use in schools for over 150 years.[24]

Importation of the Prussian model

Horace Mann and the disciples of Pestalozzi did their peculiar missionary work so completely as intellectually to crowd the conservative to the wall. For half a century after their time the ethical emotion, the bulk of exhortation, the current formulae and catchwords, the distinctive principles of theory have been found on the side of progress, of what is known as reform. The supremacy of self-activity, the symmetrical development of all the powers, the priority of character to information, the necessity of putting the real before the symbol, the concrete before the abstract, the necessity of following the order of nature and not the order of human convention - all these ideas, at the outset so revolutionary, have filtered into the pedagogic consciousness and become the commonplace of pedagogic writing and of the gatherings where teachers meet for inspiration and admonition.[25]

”

Mann would travel to Prussia in 1843 to visit the schools and study them.[26]

Secularization

According to historian Ellwood Cubberly:

“

He(Horace Mann) will always be regarded as perhaps the greatest of the "founders" of our American system of free public schools. No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, and free, and that its aim should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.[27]

”

John Dewey regarded Horace Mann as the "patron saint of progressive education."[28]

20th century

Many children did not attend public school for the first two centuries. It was not until 1852 that Massachusetts became the first state to require attendance[29] by students aged 6 through 16, and it was not until 1918 that all states had compulsory attendance laws. High schools did not generally exist until after the Civil War, and the first American kindergarten didn't exist until 1856 in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Improvement of early childhood education

Many public schools have launched pre-kindergarten programs for 3 and 4-year-old children. Some states have shifted from half-day kindergartens to programs that match the school day schedule of the other grades. Currently, 14 states and the District of Columbia require full-day kindergarten.

Research has demonstrated the importance of testing third graders for reading ability. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia require non-proficient readers to repeat third grade if they fail a reading test.

Historically, early childhood education focused on reading and writing. However, the research shows that young children's minds are receptive to math and logic. So public schools are adding Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM Education) to the lower grades.[30]

Views on morals

So-called "character education"

In response to the perception that public schools have stopped teaching morality, many state education departments have or are in the process of developing "morality" that avoid good and evil, right and wrong, and instead present under the heading of "character" education.[31] The lack of appreciation for right and wrong can surprise outsiders, and even school principals. When one public school student was charged with felonycomputer crime for altering the grades of 20 students, the principal said, we "want to teach them what's right and wrong, and it's tough for some kids to catch on to the idea that changing grades is the wrong thing to do."[32] The impact of the removal of morality from the public school curriculum (which is also used in private schools) is that "more than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent) — a total of 30 percent overall — admitted stealing from a store within the past year."[33] Liberal politicians are the most frequent opponents of initiatives designed to build moral fiber in the public school system, with organizations like the ACLU and teacher's unions devoting a significant amount of their resources towards this end. In 2010, a school board in North Dakota decided to change the name of their mascot from the "Satans." Liberals unrolled a large-scale media campaign that blanketed the district with pro-Satan propaganda in an attempt to keep the name, but they were unsuccessful.[34]

Prayer

The White House announced the release of Revised Religious Guidelines for America's Public Schools on May 29, 1998. Within this announcement, President Clinton stated, "Nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones, or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the school house door."—President Clinton, July 12, 1998[35]

In 2003, the Education Department released the following guidelines that clarified and added requirements to Public Schools to ensure the religious rights of students.[36]

Schools that don’t allow students to pray outside the classroom or that prohibit teachers from holding religious meetings among themselves could lose federal money, the Education Department said late last week.

The guidance reflects the Bush administration’s push to ensure that schools give teachers and students as much freedom to pray as the courts have allowed.
The department makes clear that teachers cannot pray with students or attempt to shape their religious views.
The instructions, released by the department on Feb. 7, broadly follow the same direction given by the Clinton administration and the courts. Prayer is generally allowed provided it happens outside the class and is initiated by students, not by school officials.

The department, however, also offered some significant additions, including more details on such contentious matters as moments of silence and prayer in student assemblies. And for the first time, federal funds are tied to compliance with the guidelines. The burden is on schools to prove compliance through a yearly report.

Teaching the Bible in public schools

The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools[37] (NCBCPS) provides a program for teaching the Bible in public schools. Currently, the NCBCPS's Bible curriculum has been voted into 462 school districts (over 1,900 high schools) in 38 states. Over 210,000 students have already taken this course nationwide, on the high school campus, during school hours, for credit.

Teaching of Islam in the public schools

Public school textbooks have been found to be portraying Islam in a positive light. Some world history textbooks in Florida claim Muslims profess to worship the same God as Christians and Jews, women historically had more rights in the Islamic world than the Christian world, and Jihad is not a violent movement, among other falsehoods. These lies have caused patriots some areas of the state to complain to local school boards, but not much has been done by the boards to actually remove the Islamic propaganda.

In California seventh grade social studies classes, students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages. Hence, Islam is one of eleven units taught in the class.[38][39] In addition, a San Diego school district worked with CAIR to add "anti-Islamophobia" classes.[40]

Gender disparity

Public schools as of late have seen girls' scores soar above boys' because schools have been geared toward the needs of girls and schools seek to emasculate boys by preventing healthy roughhousing and having psychiatrists prescribe boys drugs such as Ritalin. Then boys often come to hate school because radical feminists seek to prevent men from being men and forcing males to go through counseling to "discuss their feelings" and other liberal hogwash treating all students as if they were female. Colleges, because of this trend, see a trend of 60/40 female to male ratio because of feminist drivel such as romance novels in literature and ineffective therapy and attempts to push feminine traits on boys and young men making them frustrated and fed up with the system unless they agree to the school's desire to become effeminate.

Liberal ideology has also eliminated most male role models in public schools, such that less than a quarter of the teachers are men now.[41]

In areas on such standardized tests as ACT and SAT, girls have typically scored higher in areas such as mathematics and science. Colleges have become majority female, and the feminization of men is strong on college campuses with events that openly advocate female superiority. Females are also intent on emasculating males by forcing them to see "chick flicks" and concerts of female singers which also promote feminist nonsense, strongly continuing a trend that begins in high school which results in a large number of males taking up historically female programs such as psychology and nursing; this begins in school where teachers and administrators teach boys and girls to be girls and not only condone but encourage such emasculation which only continues throughout the boys' lives as learned behaviors are strongest during the crucial formative years these boys are in school.

Most U.S. public schools receive federal funding. Those that do are subject to Title IX which among other things requires equal access to extra curricular activities and sports.

Suppression and intolerance of alternative views

Several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, which frequently engage in judicial activism, have ruled that teaching creationism[42] and intelligent design in public schools is unconstitutional because they claim that such teachings would amount to a government establishment of religion, which is prohibited by the First Amendment.[43] Hypocritically, nothing has been done to remove the religions of Secular Humanism and Islam from the schools.

Educational outcomes

Declining literacy

Since the rapid expansion and liberalization of public schools after World War II, students' literacy levels have dropped significantly. While the average 14-year-old had a vocabulary of 25,000 words in 1945, the equivalent student in 2000 had a vocabulary of only 10,000 words, a severe disadvantage in an increasingly textual world.[44]

Liberal bias in textbooks

Textbooks (K-12) have been systematically analyzed in a study funded by the U.S. government. The 1986 findings were that massive, systematic liberal bias exists, resulting in several information blackouts in four key areas of modern American life—marriage, religion, politics, and business. While an actual conspiracy was then ruled out, the cause was found to be a "a very widespread secular and liberal mindset" pervading "the leadership in the world of education [and textbook publishing]".[45]

Evidence for bias in school textbooks includes promotion of Homosexual agenda, support of liberal viewpoint, as well as support of the unproven theory of evolution. Most Biology textbooks do not provide the Creationist viewpoint a chance, or even a second thought.

Non-Dismissal of tenured teachers

Due to the strength of the nation's teachers' union, it is nearly impossible to fire a bad performing teacher with tenure. The process can take years and involves countless steps to even attempt. The union claims that the protections are needed against arbitrary and malicious lawsuits.

The New York public schools system has approximately 700 teachers accused of insubordination to sexual misconduct. They remain in seclusion from the classroom but are paid full salaries until their cases are heard, sometimes from months to years later. All because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them.[47]

Flow chart for firing teachers in the nations second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School district

4-day week

In order to save on transportation costs and reduce time spent on travel, many states have been experimenting with holding school on four days a week leaving the fifth day for medical appointments and athletic events. In such programs, the school day is lengthened to provide the same number of hours per week of instruction. The option is more frequently used in large rural school districts. These states include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Washington. In states which have legislation permitting a 4-day school week, each school district decides whether to implement it. Arkansas, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia and Washington have no schools using the option.[48]

Notable graduates

Before 1962

Given that public schools educate about 90% of Americans, it is astounding how few prominent Americans attended public school after the banning of school-sponsored prayer in 1962. Here is an impressive list of people who attended public schools before the banning of school-sponsored prayer.

John Edwards, indicted in 2011 on allegations arising from his affair with a mistress, was a former one-term Senator from North Carolina and two-time unsuccessful candidate for nomination for president, attended public school in Robbins, N.C. during the 1960s.[67]

Laura Bush attended James Bowie Elementary School, San Jacinto Junior High School, and Midland Lee High School in Midland, Texas (Graduated 1964); came out in support of gay marriage and abortion in 2010.[69]

William J. Clinton[70] graduated from Hot Springs High School in Arkansas in 1964, and became the only president impeached in the 20th century.

Anthony Weiner, a congressman who resigned in disgrace in 2011 after first denying but then confirming an indecent use of Twitter, and later dropped out of the race for New York City Mayor following a second sex scandal, graduated from a public high school in Brooklyn.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc., graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, CA in 1972; his colleague, Steve Wozniak, graduated from the same high school in 1968.

Eminem, a liberal rapper, repeatedly failed 9th grade in public school and ultimately dropped out.

Jon Huntsman, Republican Presidential candidate and former Governor of Utah, attended Highland High School in Salt Lake City, Utah before he dropped out in 1978 to pursue a career as a rock and roll keyboardist.[79]

Michelle Bachmann, Republican member of the House of Representatives graduated from Anoka High School, Anoka, Minnesota in 1974.[80]

Mike Huckabee, former Republican Governor of Arkansas, graduated from Hope High School, Hope Arkansas, in 1974.[81]

References

↑For example, "in 2005, officials at East Brunswick High School adopted a policy prohibiting representatives of the school district from participating in student-initiated prayer." [1]

↑From 2004 to 2006, a public school banned Bible study by children ... during recess. A teacher complained about the use of the Bible and the principal then censored the study activity, according to a sworn statement by a teacher told to stop it. Principal "Summa, having learned of a complaint by a teacher and of the students' Bible study, told fourth-grade teacher Virginia Larue to nix the group's recess meeting. ... Larue later told one of Luke's Bible study colleagues the group could no longer meet at recess."[2]

↑Atheists routinely impose their views on public schools, though liberals deny it. For example, a court prohibited a moment of silence in Illinois "Township High School District 214 after atheist activist Rob Sherman challenged" it.[3]

↑A public school banned Bible study by children ... during recess. A teacher complained about the use of the Bible and the principal then censored the study activity, according to a sworn statement by a teacher told to stop it. [4]

↑ 8.08.1"Only 70% of all students in public high schools graduate, and one study found that only 32% of all students in the high school class of 2001 left high school qualified to attend four-year colleges."[5]

↑"Only 71 percent of kids graduate from high school within four years, and for minorities, the numbers are even worse -- 58 percent for Hispanics and 55 percent for African Americans," [Bill Gates] wrote. "If the decline in childhood deaths [in developing countries] is one of the most positive statistics ever, these are some of the most negative."[6]

↑According to Monitoring the Future, a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, illicit drug use is up among students between eighth and 12th grade. In 1991, 62 percent had used illicit drugs. In 2007, the number jumped to 77 percent. [7]